Warner Best Bet To Catch Unitas

NFL

December 03, 2000|By ALAN GREENBERG; Courant Staff Writer

Even casual sports fans know Joe DiMaggio set a record for consistency that may never be broken when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games in 1941. But how many know that 40 years ago Monday, Johnny Unitas set a comparable record that may turn out to be just as enduring?

On that day, in a 20-15 loss to the Lions, the Baltimore Colts quarterback threw a touchdown pass for the 47th consecutive game, a streak that extended over five seasons (teams played 12 regular season games in those days).

As the streak, which began in Unitas' rookie year of 1956, came to an end the following week in a 10-3 loss to the Rams at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, so did the Colts' chances of winning their third consecutive NFL championship.

Just as John F. Kennedy was being inaugurated as the nation's 35th president and declaring the opening of a ``new frontier,'' the Green Bay Packers, led by a former Giants assistant named Vince Lombardi, were establishing a new frontier of their own as the league's dominant power.

But the crewcut Unitas was its dominant quarterback.

Like DiMaggio's hitting streak, Unitas' 47 consecutive games with a touchdown pass has never been challenged. The second-longest streak is 30, set by Dan Marino from 1985-87. Two active quarterbacks, the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning and the Falcons' Chris Chandler, had 27-game streaks that were broken.

Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, who returns to action today after exiting in October with a broken pinkie, has the longest active streak. Warner, the leader of the defending Super Bowl champions and the league's most prolific offense, has thrown TD passes in 23 consecutive games.

If Warner is healthy enough to resume throwing at or near peak efficiency, he would seem to be the active player most likely to threaten Unitas' record.

When Unitas played, defenses were not as sophisticated, but they were still so dominant that right after Unitas retired in 1973, the NFL made several rules changes to tilt the game toward the offense. They began to allow offensive linemen to use their hands in ways that had previously been considered holding, and prohibited defenders from bumping receivers more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Warner, like Unitas, has a lot of talented receivers to aid him in his quest. Warner, like Unitas, was a free agent whose skills were held in low regard. Warner played collegiately for lightly regarded Northern Iowa, and Unitas played for lightly regarded Louisville. Rejected by the NFL the first time around, Warner honed his game in the Arena Football League. Rejected by the NFL his first time around, Unitas played for $6 a game for a Pennsylvania semipro team called the Bloomfield Rams.

Fox football analyst and former Raiders linebacker Matt Millen said all the game's offensive records that haven't been broken recently will be soon, in part because of the rules changes.

Unitas, for instance, never passed for 400 yards in a game, something that now happens almost every week in the NFL.

But what Unitas, Warner and all great quarterbacks have is an unshakeable faith that they can put the ball exactly where they want to. Warner's accuracy, allowing his fleet receivers to catch the ball in mid-stride, has been the key to his and the Rams' success. It was Unitas' as well, although Unitas' greatest receiver, former Patriots coach Raymond Berry, couldn't outrun a Slinky.

If Warner can keep his touchdown streak alive, he would pass Unitas in 2002. Given the Rams' awesome aerial arsenal, he would seem to be a shoo-in. Wanna bet?

Carroll Ready To Move On

It would have been great to eavesdrop on the phone conversation last week when Pete Carroll called Bill Belichick to tell him that his ``it's a joke'' comment about the Patriots' season was not a putdown of the job Belichick has done with the 3-9 Patriots since Carroll was fired for finishing 8-8.

But now that Carroll and Patriots owner Bob Kraft have settled his contract -- Carroll was owed $1 million for this season and next until they reached a November settlement -- Carroll is casting around for a job. He has a great track record as an NFL defensive coordinator, but as CNN/SI's Peter King recently observed, too many weird things went on late in Carroll's Patriots tenure for him to get a another head coaching job in the NFL without first proving himself again in a lesser position.

Carroll's likeable personality would seem to make him ideal as an NFL assistant or as a college head coach at a place where winning is important, but not the be all and end all.

Dim The Spotlight

Giants fans and females aside, raise your hand if you're sick of reading and hearing about Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn. Let's give Giants publicist Pat Hanlon a belated round of applause for suggesting to Sehorn that maybe, just maybe, he has allowed himself to get a bit too exposed in the media.